Ají dulce vs Scotch bonnet
The short answer
The same species and nearly the same shape, and the difference is the heat. Both are Capsicum chinense with the same fruity, floral perfume; scotch bonnet is one of the hottest chillies in common use and ají dulce has almost none. That is why the mix-up matters: recaíto and green seasoning call for handfuls of ají dulce, and the same handful of scotch bonnets makes the dish inedible. Where ají dulce cannot be found, a small piece of scotch bonnet with its seeds and ribs removed gives some of the aroma, not an equivalent.
Side by side
| Ají dulce | Scotch bonnet | |
|---|---|---|
| Botanical identity | Capsicum chinense Jacq. | Capsicum chinense Jacq. |
| Part used | fruit | fruit |
| Origin | Capsicum chinense originated in the Amazon basin and spread through the Caribbean before European contact; the mild seasoning types are Caribbean and Venezuelan selections. | Capsicum chinense originates in the Amazon basin and diversified through the Caribbean. Scotch bonnet as a cultivar group is associated with the Caribbean, and the same or closely related cultivars are long established in West Africa. |
| Flavour notes | fruity, floral, sweet, herbaceous, mild | fruity, sweet, tropical, floral |
| Heat | Very mild to heatless, with occasional exceptions. | 100000–350000 SHU (typically 200000 SHU) |
| Flavour | Sweet, herbaceous and fruity, with at most a faint warmth. It is used as an aromatic vegetable, cooked into the sofrito rather than added for heat. | Very hot, with a pronounced sweetness underneath that is the reason Caribbean cooking uses it in quantity rather than as an accent. The heat builds and lasts as it does in any Capsicum chinense. Against habanero it reads rounder and less sharp — the difference is real, narrow, and consistently reported by cooks who use both. |
| Aroma | The floral, fruity perfume of Capsicum chinense — tropical fruit and citrus — without the pungency that normally comes with it. | Fruity and sweet, closer to apple and stone fruit than the citric apricot of habanero. The distinction is genuine and subtle enough that it is easier to notice in a side-by-side than to describe. |
Which should you buy?
Ají dulce
Fresh, and freeze what you will not use as sofrito. There is no useful dried form.
Scotch bonnet
Buy fresh and freeze the surplus. Outside the Caribbean and West Africa these are bought when you find them rather than when you need them, and they freeze whole perfectly well — they are almost always blended or infused, so the texture loss costs nothing. If your shop has habanero and not scotch bonnet, buy the habanero: it is the closest substitute in this catalogue and a good one. If it has both and you are cooking Jamaican or Nigerian food, buy the scotch bonnet, because the people who cook it daily can tell.
Full detail on ají dulce and scotch bonnet, including evidence grades and sources for every claim above.